BATON ROUGE, La. – Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, the singer and guitarist who built a 50-year career playing blues, country, jazz and Cajun music, died Saturday in his hometown of Orange, Texas, where he had gone to escape Hurricane Katrina. He was 81.
Brown, who had been battling lung cancer and heart disease, was in ill health for the past year, said Rick Cady, his booking agent.
Cady said the musician was with his family at his brother’s house when he died. Brown’s home in Slidell, La., a bedroom community of New Orleans, was destroyed by Katrina, Cady said.
“He was completely devastated,” Cady said. “I’m sure he was heartbroken, both literally and figuratively. He evacuated successfully before the hurricane hit, but I’m sure it weighed heavily on his soul.”
Although his career first took off in the 1940s with blues hits “Okie Dokie Stomp” and “Ain’t That Dandy,” Brown bristled when he was labeled a bluesman.
In the second half of his career, he became known as a musical jack-of-all-trades who played a half-dozen instruments and culled from jazz, country, Texas blues, and the zydeco and Cajun music of his native Louisiana.
By the end of his career, Brown had more than 30 recordings and won a Grammy award in 1982.
Brown often said he learned to love music from his father, a railroad worker who sang and played fiddle in a Cajun band. Brown, who was dismissive of most of his contemporary blues players, named his father as his greatest musical influence.
“If I can make my guitar sound like his fiddle, then I know I’ve got it right,” Brown said.
Brown started playing fiddle by age 5. At 10, he taught himself an odd guitar picking style he used all his life, dragging his long, bony fingers over the strings.
Brown earned his nickname – “Gatemouth,” for his deep voice – while in his teens, touring as a drummer with swing bands.
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